NORDIC NEWS

A results of a major Nordic research project about young people and their relationship to pornography is due to be published this autumn. The project was presented to the Nordic Council Citizens' and Consumer Rights Committee during a field trip to The Nordic Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Research (NIKK) in Oslo on Wednesday . The idea behind the project is to find out what impact the spread of pornography has had on youngsters' attitudes to gender.

"Pornography has become part of youth culture," project manager Anette Dine Sørensen said. "Mass culture is influenced by pornography. More and more cheap porn products are available and porn is no longer taboo. We want to know what young people think about porn and what effect it has on them," she added.

A new research project into prostitution in the Nordic Region is due to be launched on the initiative of the Swedish Equality Minister, Jens Orback, NIKK is launching a project looking at trafficking.

"We have to push the trafficking issue much harder especially in talks with Russian politicians," said Odd Einar Dørum MP, a former Norwegian Minister of Justice and current member of the Nordic Council.